In her capacity as Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Jane Seymour has dealt with an awful lot of crises. Indeed the 19th-century doctor frequently defies the odds with her life-saving heroics in the frontier town. But Seymour now faces her toughest case yet: getting department store chain Debenhams out of A&E and into recovery.

The 56-year-old former Bond girl has been recruited by the retailer - which issued its third profit warning since December last Tuesday - to do what 1960s model Twiggy has done for Marks and Spencer. Debenhams' chief executive, Rob Templeman, is hoping that the actress will provide a shot in the arm for the business, which is bleeding market share not only to its close rivals such as John Lewis, M&S and Next but to value operators such as Primark and New Look.

The City is baying for blood, with more than £400m wiped off the value of the company since it was refloated last year. Current trading is grim, with underlying sales down nearly 7 per cent in the five weeks to 15 April.

Templeman has begun a charm offensive and will spend the next fortnight trying to convince shareholders that the growth story mapped out at the time of the IPO is on course. Much ire has been directed at the retailer's previous owners, private equity groups Texas Pacific, CVC and Merrill Lynch Private Equity, who made a killing during its two years away from the public market.

Analysts are also concerned that customers no longer place a premium on its products, with its brand image damaged by the seemingly ubiquitous 'Mega' days that deter savvy shoppers from paying full price, in the knowledge a discount day will be along shortly. The trading problems are specific to Debenhams rather than department stores as a whole, as the perception of them as fusty Grace Brothers-style mausoleums no longer holds true. Its deteriorating performance over the past year contrasts with the outperformance of John Lewis, suggesting that shoppers are looking for something extra in a crowded marketplace. Underlying sales at John Lewis stores rose more than 10 per cent last year, with profits up 40 per cent at £264m.

John Lewis retail operations director Patrick Lewis believes that the surge in its popularity stems in part from its 'never knowingly undersold' price-matching policy. 'We have got customers who shop with us a lot and have done so for a long time,' says Lewis. 'It is a relationship built on trust and a key element of that is in our pricing.' As well as its pricing problems, Debenhams has been exposed by its focus on fashion. Nearly 40 per cent of its clothing sales are jackets and knitwear, so the warm winter left it in hot water. That was compounded by mistakes in menswear, which lacked key value items such as formal shirts. A new menswear boss has since been drafted in to sort out the problems.

When fashion sales are going in the wrong direction, Debenhams does not have the broad spread of merchandise of John Lewis, which sells everything from sofas to computers to school uniforms. In a steady yet ruthless manner, John Lewis is establishing itself as the middle-class department store in the provinces. Indeed some shoppers may have felt short-changed when Debenhams took over some of the Allders stores as well as Roches in Ireland.

Under new ownership, rival House of Fraser is moving upmarket with chief executive John King professing aspirations to turn it into a British version of Nordstrom - the American retailer renowned for its customer service standards. That leaves Debenhams in the mid-market alongside Sir Philip Green's BHS chain battling a resurgent M&S under Stuart Rose. Debenhams' main point of difference is the Designers at Debenhams brand portfolio, which is on course to generate sales of £400m this year.

The Designers strategy was launched in 1993 by then chief executive Belinda Earl, who now runs Jaeger. It started with a range of hats by Philip Treacy and now encompasses 25 names including Jasper Conran, Julien Macdonald, John Rocha and Matthew Williamson.Analysts argue that Templeman has damaged their appeal with the perception of constant discounting. One of his remedial measures is to cut the number of sale weeks from 16 to 14. He will also market the Designers stable more aggressively, with the advertising spend diverted away from account-holder mailings to newspapers and TV. The Seymour campaign is one of Debenhams' biggest ever, with the main advert showcasing clothes from the Jasper Conran collection.

Templeman hopes that Seymour, who plays a mother who unwittingly flirts with her daughter's boyfriend, will help win back the core, older female shoppers who have fallen under the thrall of Twiggy and Co at M&S. He has also upped investment plans, outlining a proposal to pour £150m a year into revamping stores. 'Debenhams was the first to really modernise and make department stores more exciting,' says Retail Knowledge Bank senior partner Robert Clark. 'But they haven't moved on and now everybody is at it.'

A stint on the board of a PLC usually involves playing the role of both hero and villain. The Debenhams triumvirate of Templeman, finance director Chris Woodhouse and chairman John Lovering are currently the whipping boys of the private equity backlash, but they are seasoned retailers and few in the City would dare write them off.

'The best brands under good management usually come back,' says Pali Capital analyst Nick Bubb. 'Debenhams is not the best brand in the world and the management, given the recent performance, is not in the Premiership, but I wouldn't write it off yet.'